CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – With a one-year city option now on the table to purchase the former Bank of America property in the heart of Clarksville and someday develop a civic plaza there, the Two Rivers Company downtown and riverfront revitalization group is, in the meantime, gathering input from downtown stakeholders as it moves through the “inventory and analysis phase” of the project, as one key consultant termed it Friday.

Stimulating downtown rebirth

Informal conversations at City Hall led by TRC Physical Planning Committee Chairman Jeff Bibb and TRC consultant Richie Jones with Hodgson Douglas landscape and urban design planners centered on what stakeholders view as elements currently missing from downtown, and what a civic plaza might do to jump-start a permanent economic and cultural revitalization.

What’s widely deemed as the pivotal downtown city block between North Second, North Third, Legion and Main streets has the potential to positively transform the economic future of historic downtown Clarksville in the weeks and months ahead, proponents of the civic plaza concept say.

There is a sense of urgency on multiple levels with regards to the park, or plaza concept. Downtown, as a whole, many agree, is on one of its lowest ebbs since the January 1999 tornado. Downtown proponents are eager to do something – anything – to spark a permanent revitalization.

The vacated acre-lot has been owned up to now by Dr. Alan Werner, who has publicly said he likes the idea of the community transforming his property into a public gathering space as a way of helping to stimulate downtown's rebirth.

How to leverage to development

Joined at the table Friday by Randy Gross with the consulting firm, Development Economics, Jones said the primary focus of this discovery phase is determining how, exactly, the site in question could leverage other business and residential development downtown. “The idea here is to change the image and perception of downtown,” Jones said.

“This is a study that, we hope, goes somewhere very quickly.

“But, if this is going to be successful, everyone here has to have ownership of what happens,” he said.

Trying to manufacture ‘energy’

Some of the stakeholders attending a mid-day session Friday included Jeff Harris with First Advantage Bank, Kimberly Miller with US Bank, downtown attorney Jay Runyon, Chris Goodman with Civil Site Design Group and downtown business leader Leo Millan, all of whom agreed that measures need to be taken to stimulate more-consistent foot traffic and connectivity downtown, between Austin Peay State University, through the historic heart of the city and over to Fort Defiance on one end of the riverfront, and Liberty Park and the Clarksville Marina on the other.

Harris said he misses the days when downtown was a center of commerce and public activity. “Now, when I come downtown, I see a lot of empty businesses. We need more activity downtown after normal business hours,” he said.

For Miller, who enjoys being on the water, more should be done to tie the Marina and those boaters who use it to the historic central business district.

Millan added that, currently, there’s no destination downtown for people to gather, other than to dine out.

“Something has to come first for all of these elements to come together,” Jones responded, “and housing and retail development efforts downtown have to be incentivized.”

“We’re trying to manufacture some energy downtown with a physical design,” he said.

Bringing people downtown on a daily basis

Annual events ranging from Rivers & Spires, to Jammin’ In The Alley and even the Downtown Market prove that where downtown is concerned, host a community-based event and the people will come. The challenge with designing a permanent civic square, park or plaza with a commons area is to bring the people into downtown on a daily basis, not just a few times per year.

The plaza or park concept is intended to serve as a daily public gathering space, surrounded by retail and residential development which it would be intended to generate based on successful models in many other U.S. cities. In Tennessee, two primary examples of this are Chattanooga as well as Knoxville.